


Where Even Is Bellwood???

by poisonapplecat



Category: Ben 10 Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-26
Updated: 2020-02-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:55:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22906627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poisonapplecat/pseuds/poisonapplecat
Summary: Not a fanfic -- just me struggling to parse together where on Earth the majority of the series is located.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 7





	Where Even Is Bellwood???

**Author's Note:**

> Majority of info is from https://ben10.fandom.com/wiki/Bellwood -- the Ben 10 wiki -- but I also rewatched a lot of scenes and read a lot of forums while I went insane over the question.
> 
> Is this how Ao3 is supposed to be used?? I get the feeling it's not but, well, here we go anyway.

So, I rewatched all of the Original Series, Alien Force, and Ultimate Alien in the month of December. I wanted to immediately pick up with Omniverse but the limit of what's on our On Demand and the lingering fear of falling off my chair again as I did while on the last legs of the Original Series should I watch on my computer again kept me away for a while. Plus, I had the sudden, undeniable urge to cosplay Ben, so that sort of took top priority lol.

Anyway, I quickly became intrigued by where Bellwood was actually supposed to be located. Reading into it online showed that there were no real answers. And thus, I thought I'd pool all the info I could find together to see if I can make sense of it.

While I've heard Bellwood gets majorly redesigned in Omniverse, my memories of watching OV don't actually point out anything concrete other than Undertown existing and most of the info I could find came from UAF anyway. So I'm working with that sort of restriction. If, when I do watch through Omniverse, I find anything new that changes the evidence, I guess I'll post an update-chapter or something... if I can figure out how that works,

**Common** **Info**

  * Coastal city. Beaches nearby -- I believe they go to/want to go to the beach 3 times throughout UAF? And Ben rescues Kevin from a big cargo ship in "Grounded" (AF)
  * Pop: 20,000. (Wiki)
  * Founded in 1638.
  * Two high schools -- discussed in "It's Not Easy Being Gwen", where it's revealed Kevin doesn't go to school, which, well, wasn't a surprise? (Also confirmed on the wiki)
  * Mount Rushmore was a record teleport distance for Gwen(UA finale), which is roughly in the middle of the US... doesn't help much since we already presume it's Coastal.
  * In UA Ep 1, the trip to Florida requires a ride in the Rustbucket 3.



So far, I've only seen two main theories: West Coast, Southern California Area, or East Coast, New York Area.

So...

* * *

**West Coast**

**(Southern California?)**

**Evidence**

  * The first stop in OS is Yosemite.
    * Ben was able to run back home as XLR8 and back to Yosemite to mess with Cash and JT. His aliens only get better as time goes on so this would be XLR8 at his slowest… probably.
  * Quote from the Ben 10 Wiki: “In Alien Force, the crew were told that Bellwood was supposed to be a small city in the southwest, but the needs of telling a story have made it more generic.”
  * Mild weather throughout year -- Ben is always able to wear a jacket, even when they remark that it’s hot. Wiki: “Coast side climate”
  * Wiki: Winters lack snow.
  * Desert outside of Bellwood.
  * Military base: Los Soledad. Makes a bit more sense closer to Mexico than Canada, eh?



**Counter**

  * OS jumped across the country so quickly that it lowkey doesn’t matter where they actually go, location-wise. First stop is Yosemite, yes, but the second episode is in Washington DC
  * The show has never strictly conformed to time and year-lengths so climate may not be super applicable.



* * *

**East Coast**

**(State of New York?)**

**Evidence**

  * Closely resembles NYC, according to some peeps.
  * Popular fan point: Kevin ran away from home on a bike to NYC. 
    * They revisit the arcade where Ben met Kevin in NYC in UA.
    * Kevin’s mom and stepdad moved to Bellwood and/or he reconnects with them again in UAF. If the latter only, they could have always lived there.
  * In the Ben 10/Gen Rex x-over, Ben says that Manhattan is where Bellwood would be in his world. Which doesn’t exactly add up because Ben’s _been_ to NYC in his own world and Bellwood definitely exists outside of it. 
    * Also, this x-over isn’t necessarily canon. It probably is to Gen Rex but not certainly to Ben 10.



**Counter**

  * It’s possible Kevin didn’t live in Bellwood prior to UAF and lived closer to NYC as a kid. This would also imply that his family followed him to Bellwood, which matches the line “I don’t really stay there, but my mom needed a place” in the episode “Vendetta”, implying this house is a recent development based around his stating in Bellwood.



* * *

I had a brief gap in logic for a moment there where I thought "Founded in 1638? Isn't that a bit early for America?" before I remembered that the Spanish colonized the West Coast and we still keep track of those initial dates. At least, I think we do. "Bellwood" doesn't sound very Spanish, lol, but the timing wouldn't be impossible. Especially since Los Soledad is so close. Since I wasn't sure where to put this train of logic, Evidence vs Counter -wise, I decided to plop it down here.

So, really... I have no clue where Bellwood is. Given the evidence, I'd like to say it's in Southern California, but that could just be my Home Turf Instincts wanting to "win" lol. Still, I think more conscious thought went into designing it kinda West Coast-y, so I'll go with that for now. The East Coast evidence, to me, seems mostly weak and like it was just not properly thought through, though I'd love to find some evidence that places it on the East Coast a little more definitely. West Coast Pride aside, California shouldn't get all the fun, ya vibe?


End file.
